Negotiating spaces of central Europe at the Poliperiferie exhibition

Kacper Kępiński

22 of October '21

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The Warsaw installment of the exhibition "Polyperiphery. Spaces of Negotiation." This is an international project of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism devoted to spatial planning and housing issues in Central Europe after 1989.

The exhibition consists of materials collected during field research - photographs, data, information about the processes shaping the sensitive spaces of the region's cities. The results of the curators' observations, supplemented by the statements of local experts, outline a picture of conflict and constant negotiations in the conditions of the still forming planning system of Warsaw, Brno, Kiev and Bucharest.

Bucharest and Brno

Photo: Crisi Staicu, Eva Drbalova / NIAiU

Starting from a seemingly similar starting point, the problems and processes in the four cities analyzed by the authors of the exhibition take on a completely different size and dynamics. What unites them are problems related to the housing market and public space. Local experts suggest ideas on how to get out of difficult situations in which residents become victims of the market game. However, the exhibition is not a collection of good (and mostly Western) practices or instructions, but rather an analysis and comparison of the state of the struggle for the right to the city in these four locations from a local perspective.

Kiev and Warsaw

photo by Sasha Stavnichuk, Kuba Rodziewicz / NIAiU

The exhibition will present case studies of specific locations - urban development projects, planned and implemented transformations or sites of historical significance. The data presented in the form of infographics and texts are accompanied by photographs and films with statements of local experts - urban planners, architects, representatives of administration and urban movements. In each city, one selected place is additionally shown in the form of a conceptual mock-up depicting the most important local issues and problems.

photo by Kacper Kepinski

The first installment of the exhibition took place during Ukraine's largest architectural event, the CANactions festival. In Warsaw, the exhibition opens on October 22 at 6 pm and will be open until November 13. In 2022, shows are planned in Brno and Bucharest. Information on opening hours and accompanying events is available on the website of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism and on Facebook.